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Sweet Valley High #121
The High School War
With the rivalry between Sweet Valley High and Palisades High escalating, Jessica Wakefield finds herself caught between the leader of a Palisade High gang and her boyfriend, Ken Matthews, while Elizabeth's boyfriend, Todd Wilkins, is hauled off to jail.
201 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
23 people are currently reading
300 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,145 books1,851 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 26, 2020
Book 2 in the gang wars miniseries (can’t believe that’s a thing!) opens with Jessica coming to after fainting, once she stumbles upon a brawl with the Sweet Valley and Palisades boys beating the crap out of each other. No, she’s not an 18th century damsel in distress — she just realized that Christian, the hot guy who has been teaching her to surf and she has fallen in love with (while cheating on her boyfriend Ken) is none other than the leader of the Palisades gang.
Liz and company call the cops, and Jessica is assisted into a police car to go down and give a statement to the police, since she was the only witness to the fight. Much to Liz’s consternation, Jessica refuses to tell the police anything, and Liz can’t figure out what’s going on with her.
Jess and Christian get together at the beach “one last time” as they realize they can’t see each other anymore. Of course, their love is too strong and they can’t stay away from each other for very long. 🙄
Jess continues to cheat on Ken. Todd is a grade A jackass, nothing new there.
Towards the end of the book, Jess and Christian get ready for their first real date. They get all dressed up to go to a fancy restaurant a ways away from Sweet Valley and Palisades, but they shouldn’t have bothered — Ken, who is finally starting to get suspicious about Jess’s odd behavior, follows them to the restaurant (Jess had blown him off and said she was staying in, tsk tsk!). The lovebirds are obliviously making out in the front of the restaurant while waiting to be seated, and Ken sees the whole thing. Naturally, he storms out.
Meanwhile, in retaliation for the SVH guys slashing the PH guys’ tires, the PH guys (minus Christian because he is a changed man due to the wiles of Jessica Wakefield) lure class clown Winston Egbert (who has been a reluctant participant in the vandalism) to an abandoned warehouse and beat the ever-loving crap out of him. Once the SVH guys and gals figure out what is going on, the guys rush right over while Saint Liz calls the cops. Oh noes, what is going to happen next? 😱
Snarking aside, I really enjoy this miniseries. Jessica, despite cheating on Ken for like the 3rd time, seems much more human and realistic and actually has character growth for once, which is always a plus. Oh, and Liz is super annoying but that’s nothing new. 4 ⭐️
Liz and company call the cops, and Jessica is assisted into a police car to go down and give a statement to the police, since she was the only witness to the fight. Much to Liz’s consternation, Jessica refuses to tell the police anything, and Liz can’t figure out what’s going on with her.
Jess and Christian get together at the beach “one last time” as they realize they can’t see each other anymore. Of course, their love is too strong and they can’t stay away from each other for very long. 🙄
Jess continues to cheat on Ken. Todd is a grade A jackass, nothing new there.
Towards the end of the book, Jess and Christian get ready for their first real date. They get all dressed up to go to a fancy restaurant a ways away from Sweet Valley and Palisades, but they shouldn’t have bothered — Ken, who is finally starting to get suspicious about Jess’s odd behavior, follows them to the restaurant (Jess had blown him off and said she was staying in, tsk tsk!). The lovebirds are obliviously making out in the front of the restaurant while waiting to be seated, and Ken sees the whole thing. Naturally, he storms out.
Meanwhile, in retaliation for the SVH guys slashing the PH guys’ tires, the PH guys (minus Christian because he is a changed man due to the wiles of Jessica Wakefield) lure class clown Winston Egbert (who has been a reluctant participant in the vandalism) to an abandoned warehouse and beat the ever-loving crap out of him. Once the SVH guys and gals figure out what is going on, the guys rush right over while Saint Liz calls the cops. Oh noes, what is going to happen next? 😱
Snarking aside, I really enjoy this miniseries. Jessica, despite cheating on Ken for like the 3rd time, seems much more human and realistic and actually has character growth for once, which is always a plus. Oh, and Liz is super annoying but that’s nothing new. 4 ⭐️
January 5, 2023
The 'messages' in this book is very blatant and very clear.
1. Young men are violent, thinking with their fists and paying no attention at all to would their violence could result in.
2. The young women, on the other hand, are kept in the dark as much as possible and try to be peacemakers whenever they can.
3. The concept of 'if you're not with us, you're against us' is very strong.
4. Hate increases over time.
What happens is this. Rivalry between Palisades High School and Sweet Valley High School goes far beyond a basic rivalry. It moves into hate and violence as both schools wage a war against each other starting with simple things like throwing eggs at houses to slashing tires to a full-on battle with no quarter given.
Elizabeth works on a team to try to deescalate the level of hatred, working with girls from the other school but it's the power of reason against the power of hate by the boys.
It also puts males into stereotypical violent beings and girls into stereotypical almost powerless beings trying to make peace. Yes, it's definitely over the top but sometimes you need to do that to get the message across.
Then there's the Romeo and Juliet theme going with Jessica cheating on her boyfriend (indicating her totally selfish self-interest approach to life) and cheating on him with a guy from the other school with her agonizing for a few seconds about betraying her boyfriend and her school but then after a few moments getting back to kissing her new love interest.
1. Young men are violent, thinking with their fists and paying no attention at all to would their violence could result in.
2. The young women, on the other hand, are kept in the dark as much as possible and try to be peacemakers whenever they can.
3. The concept of 'if you're not with us, you're against us' is very strong.
4. Hate increases over time.
What happens is this. Rivalry between Palisades High School and Sweet Valley High School goes far beyond a basic rivalry. It moves into hate and violence as both schools wage a war against each other starting with simple things like throwing eggs at houses to slashing tires to a full-on battle with no quarter given.
Elizabeth works on a team to try to deescalate the level of hatred, working with girls from the other school but it's the power of reason against the power of hate by the boys.
It also puts males into stereotypical violent beings and girls into stereotypical almost powerless beings trying to make peace. Yes, it's definitely over the top but sometimes you need to do that to get the message across.
Then there's the Romeo and Juliet theme going with Jessica cheating on her boyfriend (indicating her totally selfish self-interest approach to life) and cheating on him with a guy from the other school with her agonizing for a few seconds about betraying her boyfriend and her school but then after a few moments getting back to kissing her new love interest.
April 25, 2023
I'm astounded the parents have no clue in what's going on. Especially Todd's parents. Their son was thrown in jail and they didn't even care! Wtf? And violence doesn't solve anything. This mini series is all sorts of wrong and gives young readers ideas that violence is okay. It isn't!
March 16, 2019
Mob mentality rules. What can be done to stop the war between Sweet Valley and Palisades.
August 25, 2024
This starts showing the crumble of the Wakefield sisters relationships, Jess with Ken and Liz with Todd as the boys' gangwars take precendece over logic.
December 27, 2015
I enjoy this three part miniseries within the Sweet Valley High series the most out of all the other books. This is the second book to the three part miniseries.
The high school war between Sweet Valley High and Palisades High has escalated with Jessica and Elizabeth caught in the middle of the conflict.
This book has a much better plot and pacing than the other books making me give it four stars compared to my normal three stars for SVH books.
The high school war between Sweet Valley High and Palisades High has escalated with Jessica and Elizabeth caught in the middle of the conflict.
This book has a much better plot and pacing than the other books making me give it four stars compared to my normal three stars for SVH books.
May 16, 2013
That escalated in a span of what? Less than a week or two?
I don't feel bad for Jessica. She was in the wrong and she knew it. Ken caught he in the act. It's a shame because I like Ken.
Elizabeth and Todd. Well, I'm on Liz's side. I like Todd, too. What's happening to the characters I like? It seemed they transformed overnight.
I don't feel bad for Jessica. She was in the wrong and she knew it. Ken caught he in the act. It's a shame because I like Ken.
Elizabeth and Todd. Well, I'm on Liz's side. I like Todd, too. What's happening to the characters I like? It seemed they transformed overnight.
June 28, 2016
Don't remember when I finished reading. Original plot but kinda flat characters.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover but just not the story.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews